Finally Breathing
by dont.be.creepy
Summary: And now, after all the times I'd spent drowing in my own sorrow and wishing I could be human again, I was finally breathing.


**Heyyy, guys! This is just a quick one-shot because I am absolutely obsessed with Warm Bodies, but more specifically, R right now. I've seen the movie three times in the theater already hehe. But I mean seriously, how can you not LOVE Nicholas Hoult? I can't wait for Jack the Giant Slayer to come out!**

**Anyway, read on, my fellow R-lovers!**

Julie and I ran as fast as we could, considering I was a zombie whose legs didn't work too well, from the angry boneys behind us.

There was a door straight ahead so I flung it open but Julie quickly grabbed me and held me back because there was nowhere left to run. We'd reached the Emergency Door. Behind that door was a 100 feet drop into a pool. The boneys had caught up by now. This was it. Or maybe not.

I wrapped my arms around Julie and she looked at me questioningly. "R?"

"Keep you safe," I murmered before jumping backwards out the door. My back was towards the ground and Julie was lying on top of me as we fell through the sky.

I heard the loud smack of my back hitting the hard water before I felt it. I must have blacked out for a moment because the last thing I remember before Julie pulled me up was my head hitting the ground beneath the water.

When Julie finally did pull me up, her hands were on the sides of my face and she was shaking me lightly. "R?" she kept repeating worriedly. I shook my hair and blinked the water out of my eyes.

Julie grinned at me and I smiled as big as I could, and before I knew it, her lips were pressed against mine. My eyes widened in surprise, but closed after a moment and I sighed, perfectly content and happy for the first time since, well, since I can remember.

But that feeling didn't last too long, because something small and hard crashed into my chest, pulling me out of my dream-like state and knocking me away from Julie.

My hand shot up to the hole in my chest to try and stop the bleeding. Wait, bleeding? Corpses didn't bleed! Holy shit!

I mean, I knew that the zombies, including myself, were all changing, but I didn't expect to be able to bleed and feel pain just yet!

Pain. That's what I felt then. It hurt really bad, so bad that I can't even describe how bad it was. But it was also the best thing I'd ever felt. Pain meant being human.

I watched as General Grigio lifted his gun to shoot again. I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting to feel another bullet ripple through me, but Julie stood in front of me before that could happen.

"Dad! Stop!" she shouted.

"Julie, move out of my way!"

"No, Dad. I told you they were changing. He saved me! And he's bleeding. Oh my god." Julie turned to me. "Oh. My. God. You're bleeding! Corpses don't bleed!"

General Grigio lowered his gun slowly and stepped closer to get a better look. And I guess he saw that Julie was right; my blood was filling the small pool quickly.

Julie's father just stared at me in disbelief as some of the guards helped me and Julie out of the pool.

I held my hand over my leaking wound and smiled at Julie. She returned the smile, took my hand in hers, and turned to face her dad, who still looked pretty shell-shocked.

"Dad," Julie said, "will you please help R now?"

Julie's father seemed to remember that he had just shot me and he nodded his head while motioning for his soldiers to help me to the car. I climbed into the back, careful to keep my hand on my chest, and watched Julie plop down in the passenger seat next to her dad.

As we were driving General Grigio spoke up. "You still bleeding?"

It took me a moment to find my voice but once I did I replied, "Yes."

"Good. " Julie scoffed and I'm assuming she rolled her eyes, too

"Yes, sir," I agreed. It really was a good thing I was still bleeding.

"Please, son, call me John."

"Thank you, John. For . . .not killing me, I mean," I said awkwardly.

"No problem . . . R is it? Thank you for keeping Julie safe," He said, sounding genuinely thankful.

I looked down and grinned. I did it. I saved Julie. But she also saved me. And all the other zombies, for that matter.

After the short car ride, we arrived back at the Citi Stadium. Julie assisted me in getting out of the car and then pulled one of my arms around her shoulder to help me hobble over to the infirmary. John thanked me once more and left us alone.

A nurse named Dr. Nancy helped me sit on a cold metal table. She asked me a couple of questions like how I got shot and why. I wasn't really up for talking, so I let Julie answer for me.

Dr. Nancy told me to lay down so she could dig the bullet out of my chest and then sew me back up. To tell you the truth, I was pretty nervous because it had been so long since I'd felt so much pain. The only good thing was that Julie was there holding my hand the whole time.

Once my chest was all stitched up and bullet-free, Julie and I walked to her house.

We went inside and Julie led me to her room. "Okay," she said, "you can sleep on my floor tonight and tomorrow we'll get the guest room set up.

I nodded and Julie turned around and pulled some pillows and blankets out of a drawer before handing them to me. I spread the blankets out on the floor and placed a couple pillows at the top and then lied down. Julie was already snuggled into her spot on her bed. Nora was softly snoring across the room in her own bed.

It was so strange to think that just a couple days ago I'd had to hide here so that no one would find out I was a zombie, and now there I was lying on Julie's floor without a care in the world and a smile on my face.

"Goodnight, Julie," I whispered quietly.

"'Night, R," Julie whispered back, and then, just when I thought she'd fallen asleep, she softly said, "I love you."

My newly undead heart swelled at the sound of those three words leaving Julie's lips and flowing delicately into my ears. And I'm sure that in that moment my grin was bigger than anyone else's had ever been before.

"I love you, too." I unwillingly drifted into a deep sleep, wishing that I could just be awake because reality was finally better my dreams. And now, after all the times I'd spent drowing in my own sorrow and wishing I could be human again, I was finally breathing.

**Hoped you guys liked this! Review and tell me what you thought?(:**


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